University of Alberta – National Posthttp://news.nationalpost.com
Sat, 10 Dec 2016 01:25:12 +0000enhourly1http://wordpress.com/http://1.gravatar.com/blavatar/bf69214e83fdd5520e4b5d91ba3b7d64?s=96&d=http%3A%2F%2Fs2.wp.com%2Fi%2Fbuttonw-com.pngUniversity of Alberta – National Posthttp://news.nationalpost.com
‘This is for you’: Man makes noose from rope and shows it to two Muslim women in Edmontonhttp://news.nationalpost.com/news/this-is-for-you-man-makes-noose-from-rope-and-shows-it-to-two-muslim-women-in-edmonton
Wed, 07 Dec 2016 01:53:38 +0000https://nationalpostcom.wordpress.com?p=1268799&preview_id=1268799

EDMONTON — The Edmonton police hate crimes unit has a suspect in custody after a man allegedly approached two young women wearing hijabs, fashioned a noose in a rope he took from his pocket and said it was meant for them.

“This is for you,” he allegedly told them.

Investigators say the man then sang O Canada in front of the women, who were waiting at the university light-rail transit station the evening of Nov. 8.

The suspect is believed to be in his 60s, wears glasses, has a thin build and thinning grey hair.

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Investigators have released a still taken from a video at the station and are asking for the public’s help in finding a suspect.

In September, a dozen racist posters targeting turban-wearing Sikhs were discovered on campus at the University of Alberta, including one at the university’s main library.

The university removed the posters, which featured a picture of a Sikh man, profanity about turbans and a statement calling on people from third world cultures to leave Canada.

The posters included the hashtags “non-integrative” and “invasion.”

Various groups, including the World Sikh Organization of Canada, along with university president David Turpin, federal Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau all spoke out against the racist message.

In October, Edmonton police asked the public for help in finding those responsible for anti-Islam flyers dropped off in mailboxes in several city neighbourhoods.

Mayor Don Iveson helped launched an anti-racism campaign on social media earlier this year called “Make it Awkward” after someone hurled a slur at a black actor who was filming a public service announcement on a city street.

Jesse Lipscombe challenged a middle-aged white man who made the slur to explain his actions. The man denied doing anything, but then yelled another slur before driving away. Lipscombe’s encounter was caught on video and posted online.

With a file from Edmonton Journal

]]>stdHate Crime Suspect, U of A LRT.jpgRacist posters at University of Alberta tell men with turbans to go ‘back to where you came from’http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/racist-posters-at-university-of-alberta-tell-men-with-turbans-to-go-back-to-where-you-came-from
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/racist-posters-at-university-of-alberta-tell-men-with-turbans-to-go-back-to-where-you-came-from#commentsTue, 20 Sep 2016 16:08:46 +0000http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=1209799

Sikhs and fellow students are speaking out after hateful anti-immigration posters targeting men in turbans littered the University of Alberta campus Monday.

“This is shameful that people in Canada are doing this,” said Yadvinder Bhardwaj, president of the Indian Students’ Association at the University of Alberta, which represents more than 2,500 Indian students. “I don’t want this. We are students, we are here trying to get an education, we are not doing anything bad.”

The posters read “f*ck your turban” in white capital letters across the image of a man wearing a turban, adding, “if you’re so obsessed with your third-world culture, go the f*ck back to where you came from!”

While Bhardwaj — whose mother is Sikh — said he is no stranger to racism on campus, he found the timing of these posters to be especially egregious as they could leave a lasting and distressing impression on new international students in their first few weeks of campus life.

“They might be afraid of this,” Bhardwaj said, hoping this display of racism does not escalate to more violent forms of expression.

The World Sikh Organization of Canada condemned the racist posters.

“Similar posters appeared two years ago in Ontario and are a pathetic attempt at drawing the spotlight to deplorable views that have been rejected in Canada,” WSO president Mukhbir Singh said.

We are students, we are here trying to get an education, we are not doing anything bad

“Despite the claims on this poster, Sikhs are an integral part of the Canadian fabric and we are proud that many turbaned Sikhs serve Canada in the federal cabinet, Armed Forces and many other capacities.”

Canada’s Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan and former member of parliament for Edmonton-Sherwood Park Tim Uppal both wear turbans.

“These racist posters don’t reflect the inclusiveness Canada is renown for and we know that the University of Alberta and the larger Edmonton community stand in solidarity with Sikh Canadians in saying that this type of messaging is not welcome,” said Tejinder Singh Sidhu, vice-president of WSO Alberta.

David Turpin, president of the University of Alberta, said all of the posters that were brought to their attention have been taken down and any new posters will be removed.

“We are working with University of Alberta Protective Services to find the parties responsible. The University of Alberta is a space that is open to all people and we take pride in the strength of our diverse community,” Turpin said.

A new study led by University of Alberta researchers suggests there are at least 26,000 — and possibly millions — of black holes in the Milky Way galaxy, significantly more than previously thought.

The research, led by three U of A graduate students, identified the first “quiet” black hole X-ray binary in the Milky Way to be discovered outside a large cluster of thousands to millions of stars, an exceptional finding as black holes are usually discovered in a more active state. The results of the research were published in The Astrophysical Journal.

“As a scientist, it’s utterly exciting,” said Gregory Sivakoff, a professor in the university’s Department of Physics.

via Chandra X-ray Observatory CenterThe main panel shows composite X-ray and visible or optical light image of a massive concentration of stars called M15. The insets show the black hole is detectable in radio waves, but can only be giving off a very small amount of X-rays.

Black holes form when massive stars collapse. It’s called an X-ray binary if it is located near a companion star. Gravity draws material from those companion stars towards the black hole, which can then “eat” material nearby. Before material falls into the black hole, it gets very hot, giving off X-rays. As black holes become more active feeders, more X-rays are emitted.

A quiet black hole feeds less and gives off smaller amounts of X-rays, making it more difficult to discover.

While the researchers have not detected any X-rays from their black hole, VLA J213002.08+120904 (or VLA J2130+12 for short), it is giving off radio waves. This is what allowed researchers to identify it.

The study combined data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, the Hubble Space Telescope and the National Science Foundation’s Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array to characterize the black hole. It is located about 7,200 light years away and is a few times the mass of the sun.

It’s both sort of humbling to be wrong, but also exciting because it means there’s a whole lot out there

Only about 80 black hole X-ray binaries in the Milky Way are known, said Sivakoff, a co-author and supervisor of one of the lead authors.

Previously it was thought there were between 100 and 10,000 of these X-ray binaries.
“It’s both sort of humbling to be wrong, but also exciting because it means there’s a whole lot out there … for us to discover,” he said.

The research is “extremely exciting,” said Tim Davidge, an astronomer with the National Research Council of Canada’s Dominion Astrophysical Observatory.

“The study that they’ve done opens up the possibility of detecting many of the hidden black holes, and by trying to determine how many black holes are out there, it tells us something about the past history of our galaxy,” he said.

The toll of extreme weather on earth gets most of the attention, but a new discovery by Edmonton scientists is highlighting the impact that extreme space weather can also have on humans and our power, telecommunications and navigation systems.

Announced Monday in the scientific publication Nature Physics, findings by researchers at the University of Alberta are solving a mystery phenomenon in the Earth’s magnetosphere, the protective shield around the planet that absorbs and deflects potentially harmful solar wind blowing in from the sun.

But when it’s severe enough, space weather at altitudes of 100 to 70,000 kilometres — where satellites fly — can disrupt power grids on earth or fry the electronics of orbiting spacecraft or satellites beaming GPS, telecommunications and other services back to earth.

Scientists had been puzzled by the temporary appearance in 2013 of a third Van Allen Belt. The regions within the Earth’s magnetosphere known as the inner and outer Van Allen Belts are where high-energy protons and electrons are trapped by Earth’s magnetic field.

Working on the NASA Van Allen Probes mission, a $700-million, two-spacecraft investigation of space radiation, the University of Alberta discovery showed for the first time how the third Van Allen Belt is created by severe space storms, or waves of intense ultralow frequency plasma waves.

“We found much, much larger waves in the system than we thought, a kind of space tsunami,” said Ian Mann, U of A physics professor and lead author of the study.

“It’s sloshing this radiation around much more than we previously thought and it kind of washes away large parts of the outer radiation belt.”

The washing-away process makes the region a safer environment for spacecraft by ridding it of much of the radiation and explains the formation of the third radiation belt.

The discovery could help in the design of technology better equipped to withstand severe space weather, Mann said. Some studies estimate the cost of damaged space and earth infrastructure from a severe weather storm could be as high as US$2 trillion.

“It’s becoming increasingly accepted now that there’s a risk not only from extreme weather, but from extreme space weather,” Mann said.

The White House recently announced the implementation of a plan to reduce the effects of severe space weather by developing steps to protect infrastructure.

Because of Canada’s northern geography, understanding the impact of space weather is even more pressing, Mann said.

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/news/world/space-tsunami-helps-protect-against-solar-wind-that-can-knock-out-gps-power-grids-edmonton-researchers/feed0stduploaded-by-bill-mah-email-bmahpostmedia-com-phone5Melting Arctic ice is forcing polar bears to swim for more than a week without resthttp://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/melting-arctic-ice-is-forcing-polar-bears-to-swim-for-more-than-a-week-without-rest
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/melting-arctic-ice-is-forcing-polar-bears-to-swim-for-more-than-a-week-without-rest#commentsThu, 21 Apr 2016 19:44:27 +0000https://nationalpostcom.wordpress.com?p=1081100&preview_id=1081100

In September 2009, after a summer of warm weather and dwindling ice, a young polar bear slipped into the frigid waters of the Beaufort Sea and began to swim.

She didn’t stop for food or rest until nine days later, when she finally encountered a slab of sea ice large enough to sustain her. The journey was some 400 kilometres.

That female polar bear was one of more than 100 monitored by biologist Andrew Derocher, a researcher at the University of Alberta who spent six years tracking bears in the waters off the northern coasts of Alaska and Canada. He found that, as sea ice in those areas fractured and melted away, the bears were making longer and longer swims across the open ocean – journeys that taxed their already limited resources and proved perilous to vulnerable cubs.

“Ice is changing so quickly that we’re finding the bears are getting caught in places where they’re finally coming to the realization, ‘I just can’t stay here,’ ” Derocher said in a phone interview. “… These kinds of long-distance swims are not what they evolved to undergo.”

The results of Derocher’s study, published in the most recent issue of the journal Ecography, show a dramatic increase in the number of polar bears paddling across vast expanses of ocean to find suitable ice to stand on. In 2004, just a quarter of the bears monitored performed a long-distance swim (defined as more than 50 kilometers). By 2012, that proportion had ballooned to 69 percent.

The number of bears making such a swim was directly proportional to the loss of sea ice in the area, Derocher said.

These journeys are hard on polar bears. Though they’re good swimmers, they’re not adapted to long trips and can only paddle about 2 kilometers an hour. A 50-kilometre journey to find new ice takes an entire day, during which the bears can’t eat or rest. Adult bears are likely to lose weight, and their cubs tend to get hypothermic. In 2009, a mother bear who swam for nine days straight off the coast of Alaska (who was not part of Derocher’s study) lost 22 percent of her body weight, biologists with the US Geological Survey reported. Her year-old cub died during the journey.

“With cubs, if they have to undergo a long distance swim it’s basically a death sentence,” Derocher said.

Mothers with cubs were much less likely to swim, he found. Instead, “they will walk for hundreds of kilometers to keep their cubs out of water.”

In part because of the difficulty of monitoring bears (collars can fall off or malfunction, bears seem to drop off the map), the amount of data Derocher and his colleagues collected varied from year to year. But the trend is pretty clear, Derocher said. In the 1980s, when he first began studying polar bears, it would have been unheard of for any bears to make a long distance swim, let alone dozens. In those days there was no need — the Beaufort Sea and Hudson Bay (the two areas covered by the study) were clogged with ice even in the height of summer.

That’s changed now, especially in the Beaufort Sea above Alaska and the Yukon, which has seen an especially large decline in sea ice compared with the Hudson Bay. Satellite images taken earlier this month show that the ice there is already beginning to break up. That’s bad news during prime hunting season for polar bears, which rely on sea ice as a platform from which to dive for seals and other prey.

“None of this is what I would call a smoking gun as to what is happening with polar bear abundance but the signs are all pointing in the same direction,” Derocher said. “We’re seeing bears with lower body fat, fewer cubs, changing hunting behavior.”

None of this is what I would call a smoking gun as to what is happening with polar bear abundance but the signs are all pointing in the same direction

Pair that with a 2014 study that found that the polar bear population in the southern Beaufort Sea dropped between 25 and 50 percent from 2001 to 2010, and the picture becomes pretty clear.

“The Beaufort population is one of the ones that will more than likely be extirpated probably by mid-century,” Derocher said.

The best-case scenario is that these bears will travel south and find a way to hunt on land during the summers, the way some of their Hudson Bay cousins do. So much depends on their ability to adapt.

“We’re really changing the rules on the bears with the warming that we’re observing,” he said.

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/melting-arctic-ice-is-forcing-polar-bears-to-swim-for-more-than-a-week-without-rest/feed1stdPolar Bear Swim 20160418Robyn Urback: At the University of Alberta, it is literally too expensive to try to share a controversial opinionhttp://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/robyn-urback-at-the-university-of-alberta-it-is-literally-too-expensive-to-try-to-share-a-controversial-opinion
http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/robyn-urback-at-the-university-of-alberta-it-is-literally-too-expensive-to-try-to-share-a-controversial-opinion#respondThu, 25 Feb 2016 17:13:10 +0000http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=1029437

As intolerance to unpopular opinions has grown on Canadian campuses, university administrations have been forced into innovative strategies to keep the peace while avoiding accusations of stifling free speech.

In the not-too-distant past, officials seeking to placate campus groups opposed to controversial speakers or events could use the threat of trespass laws — as happened at the University of Calgary in 2009 when a pro-life group sought to erect a display on campus — or issue a clumsy warning about the limits of free speech — as University of Ottawa provost Francois Houle delivered before a planned visit by American polemicist Ann Coulter in 2010.

But the ongoing — if perverse — determination to kowtow to the narrow dogmatism of campus activists has evidently pushed academics and other members of Canada’s university administrations into seeking creative new ways to mollify demands for “safe spaces” on campus and protection from exposure to views that may diverge from the latest interpretations of political acceptability. Universities, once considered proponents of learning, now seem to see it as their duty to protect students from exposure to views that may violate prevailing doctrines.

The solution? The University of Alberta recently hit on a relatively novel idea. When the group UAlberta Pro-Life sought to set up an exhibit that would include displays showing graphic pictures of aborted fetuses — almost certainly offending pro-choice students or faculty — the university notified the group it would be charged a fee of $17,500 to cover the cost of security.

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The group says it was informed of the charge just 11 days before the event, which the president of the club said the group couldn’t possibly afford. “Not only is $17,500 a very large number for students, but the university would have wanted a $9,000 deposit by last Friday,” said UAlberta Pro-Life’s Amberlee Nicol. “We just don’t have that kind of money.” As a result, the group had to cancel its event.

It can’t be considered anything but bizarre that the potential targets of disruption would be charged for their protection, rather than those representing the disruption. If a similar approach was taken by society at large, any group wanting to stage a public protest would receive a bill for the resultant policing budget. Should a pro-choice group wish to erect a display, and UAlberta Pro-Life members arrived to trash it, would the university hold the victims to account in a similar manner?

It is surely no coincidence that the University of Alberta chose to direct its demand towards a group with a message contrary to prevailing campus dogma. Similar requests have been made of men’s groups planning events on campus in the past, though the price tags for security in those cases were dramatically less: $964 for a University of Toronto group to host a 2013 lecture and $1,600 for the Men’s Issues Awareness Society at Ryerson University in 2014, though that fee was later withdrawn.

Wendy Rodgers, deputy provost at the U of A, said all groups go through the same consideration process when they apply to host an event on campus. She said the university is “willing to work” with the group to help lessen the financial burden, perhaps by moving to event to a location where fewer police officers or security guards would be necessary. Of course, moving the exhibit to a remote corner of the campus would also serve to reduce the group’s visibility and its ability to share its ideas.

It sends entirely the wrong message for universities to put the financial burden of security on organizations seeking only to share their views in a peaceable and civilized manner. If activist groups can’t tolerate the freedom of others to hold contrary opinions without threatening disruption, surely they are the ones to which the security apparatus should be devoting its attention. Attitudes like those prevailing at the University of Alberta make it literally too expensive to have a controversial opinion.

“We can’t afford to,” said Amberlee Nicol, president of UAlberta Pro-Life. “Not only is $17,500 a very large number for students, but the university would have wanted a $9,000 deposit by last Friday. We just don’t have that kind of money.”

The club hoped to put up the same display as last March, which was obstructed by a counter protest. About 3,000 of the club’s posters were also torn down. UAlberta Pro-Life said it was launching legal action against the university because it alleged the school failed to uphold its right to freedom of expression.

“We had even applied earlier this year than the previous year. We applied six weeks prior to when we wanted to hold the event and they made us answer lots of questions and fill out paperwork. We did everything they asked, but a few days ago they said unless we can come up with this amount of money in this short time to pay for the event, then you can’t have it, which is as good as denying us approval because we’re students. We can’t afford that kind of fee.”

Nicol said the club shouldn’t be forced to pay for dealing with the potential misconduct of people who would violate the university’s code of student behaviour by obstructing, disrupting and shutting down their message.

“The university is scared of other people breaking the rules. For them, it’s just easier to make us go away so they don’t have to deal with those rule-breakers.”

Nicol acknowledged the display would have shown graphic images. “They’re disturbing because the reality of abortion is disturbing,” she said. “That’s what abortion looks like and shouldn’t we take that into account when we’re having a discussion about whether or not we should allow it in a civilized society.”

It’s just easier to make us go away so they don’t have to deal with those rule-breakers

Wendy Rodgers, deputy provost at the U of A, said the anti-abortion club went through the same consideration process that any group planning an event goes through.

“If you want to hold your event, there’s always conditions placed on events, such as if they want buildings or tents or fires or whatever it is they might want, including security that can wrap up into a fee,” Rodgers said.

The club could take measures to reduce the risk and, in turn, the security fee, such as moving the event from the wide-open quad outdoor area to a more easily secured indoor venue, she said.

“We’re willing to work with them if they want to reduce the cost associated with their event, but we do have to ensure the safety of those students themselves as well as the rest of the students who happen to be on north campus at the time of the event.”

1. China issues warning against ‘weird’ architecture

(Chinatopix via AP) Does Shanghai's bubble building count as weird?

China is putting an end to “weird” architecture. Guidelines in a new state directive warn architects to stay away from plans that are “oversized, xenocentric, weird” and devoid of cultural tradition. Instead, buildings should be “suitable, economic, green and pleasing to the eye.” Apparently, President Xi Jinping is not a fan. It’s not precisely clear what’s “weird,” but just recently, authorities forcibly dismantled a giant golden statue of Mao erected by some enthusiast in a rural county in Hainan. It was definitely weird.

Chinatopix via APState media confirmed the destruction of the 36.6-metre tall, gold-painted statue, citing local officials who said that the site was built without permits.

2. Money can’t buy the presidency

If there’s a silver lining to the epic failure of Jeb Bush’s presidential campaign it might be this: the Bush candidacy demonstrated once again that money doesn’t buy political success. Bush’s Super-PAC – the vehicle used to raise and spend money – ran through $100 million, far more than other candidates. Bush strategist Mike Murphy was reported to have earned $14 million – a figure he vehemently rejected – for overseeing the disaster.

3. Albertans place distant second to Bombardier

John Larter/Calgary Herald Justin Trudeau's relief for Alberta is a drop in the bucket.

Ottawa is reportedly prepared to give Alberta $250 million in “stabilization funding.” Gee, that’s nice. Almost a quarter of what it’s expected to give Bombardier Inc. Evidently shiny but unsalable aircraft score bigger with the Liberals than do Albertans.

4. Kevin Page, equal opportunity annoyance

Sean Kilpatrick / The Canadian Press He's ba-a-a-a-c-c-c-ck

Kevin Page, the former Parliamentary Budget Officer who gave the Tories fits by constantly pointing out their tricks, is doing the same to the Liberals. Bill Morneau’s economic update Monday was full of holes, Page says, in particular a mysterious $40 billion “fudge” in projected growth for the economy, which seems to have been included to allow room for the Liberals to claim they did “better han expected.” Even the students in his finance class spotted it, he says. Good try, Bill Morneau!

5. U of A signals that violence works

PostmediaA Pro-Life student hands out pamphlets at the University of Calgary in 2009.

A Pro-life club at the University of Alberta was told it would be charged a $17,500 “security fee” if it put up a display. This is novel: the fee would apply to the target of disruptions, not to he students who caused the disruption. According to that reasoning, any campus vigilante group could successfully muzzle any organization they dislike by simply making a commotion, thereby requiring a “security” presence, with the charges being sent to the target. Message at U of A: violence works.

6. Notley agrees to private meeting with big donors

Larry Wong/ Postmedia NewsAlberta Premier Rachel Notley.

The Alberta NDP is going ahead with an event in which select donors will be granted private access to Premier Notley in return for contributions. The party says it’s not “selling access”. Its just giving access in return for money. See the difference?

Students from the I-House (International House) residence at the University of Alberta spent about 34 hours building an igloo outside their campus residence back in January 2015.

So what inspired the students to take on this activity? According to igloo builder Tudor Apan, he was feeling nostalgic for home and the time he and his family would spend building igloos during the winter. Apan wanted to understand what the process was like for his father who did most of the heavy lifting.

]]>stdEdmonton students build an iglooJen Gerson: Orgies in a time of political correctnesshttp://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/jen-gerson-orgies-in-a-time-of-political-correctness
http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/jen-gerson-orgies-in-a-time-of-political-correctness#commentsTue, 03 Nov 2015 17:10:35 +0000http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=933053

University is, and should be, a magical time in a young person’s life, in which he or she is free to challenge social and political truisms, meet like-minded people, and embrace experimentation in all its forms.

So I, for one, applaud a student at the University of Alberta who is trying to organize an orgy off campus.

According to the campus newspaper the Gateway, the “sexual mixer” — which is not a joke — will be held sometime, somewhere on Nov. 13 and is intended for students of all experience levels who may be interested in group sex. It will be a “sex positive” event, organizer and prospective orgy moderator Matthew James Hardy told the campus paper. Participants will be screened and gender and sexuality ratios carefully balanced to ensure everyone “can actually explore and not feel suppressed,” he said.

And one needn’t fear this will be a sausage fest, he added. Lots of women are interested as well, although our culture of “slut shaming” tends to make them less likely to be open about it.

To all this, I say: Go for it, kids! Like foreign travel, sexual misadventure is so much easier to schedule before the babies and mortgages arrive.

My only real concern here is how to meld the raunchy group sex culture of our parents and grandparents with the prevailing ethos of the modern campus.

How do you make an orgy as friendly and inclusive as possible in the midst of a collegiate culture seemingly obsessed with doing everything the correct way? Even though my own experiences with orgies is limited to watching Eyes Wide Shut trailers, I’m happy to provide a few helpful suggestions to our more sexually enterprising young students:

1. Consent. It’s no longer enough to have sex with someone who seems to want to have sex with you; you are now expected to seek enthusiastic consent from your partners. As Hardy stated to the Gateway, mere flirting is not a sign of consent — even in the context of an orgy. Nor will coercion be tolerated. These expectations are particularly incumbent on heteronormative cis males who have traditionally benefitted from power dynamics that have disproportionately disadvantaged females in the orgy environment. I suggest orgy consent forms witnessed and signed by the orgy moderator.

2. However, such forms should probably note that written consent can be rescinded at any time. Therefore everyone should check in with everyone else at 30 second to 1-minute intervals: “Are you enjoying this?” “Are you still enjoying this?” “Is this the correct penis-to-yoni ratio for you at this beautiful moment?”

3. Hardy said that organizers will carefully screen potential participants and selecting candidates according to correct gender and sexuality ratios. This way, no one will feel left out. At the same time, the logic of consent insists that no one feel the need to participate in any way with a sexual act or sexuality that makes him or her feel uncomfortable.
Organizers may want to consider some kind of dispute resolution committee on site — comprised of the proper gender and sexuality ratios, of course — to ensure that no one feels unduly suppressed by acts of declined consent.

“Are you still enjoying this?” “Is this the correct penis-to-yoni ratio for you at this beautiful moment?”

4. It’s probably also necessary to note that gender is non-binary and sexuality exists on a continuum. Humans are simply conscious beings who exist in a body that was assigned one of several biological genders at birth. Genitals don’t have a bearing on the self, per se. This is something to consider when you choose to participate or decline sexual activity with a person and/or people based on arbitrary and socially determined labels.
4a. I was probably wrong to refer to this orgy as a “sausage fest” earlier. Better to consider it a “group of biologically identified males of mixed sexual expression.” I apologize.

5. Needless to say, I expect we’ve disabused ourselves of any hegemonic ideas about what an orgy participant should look like. Like gender, beauty isn’t real, at least not in the realest sense of the word real. Orgy participants should try to divorce themselves from impossible standards of western beauty. And, I should hope, participants will be drawn from the widest possible array of male, female and transgendered body types.

6. Orgy moderators should feel free to charge a fee to cover the cost of hosting — which will likely include site rental and clean up. However, expect any such fee to be immediately protested by participants who feel there should be no cost attached to expressing one’s fullest sexuality. Orgies should, after all, be free of the capitalistic paradigm.
6a. Note: Said participants will still pay to participate in the orgy, under protest.

7. Safety safety safety. I cannot express the importance of safety enough. Hardy said there would be little point in demanding any STI screenings. Such formalities may give participants a false sense of security, and they are quickly out of date anyway. Male and female condoms must be used, then, and used a lot. Organizers should ensure non-latex condoms are available for anyone suffering from a latex allergy. For that matter, they should probably opt for natural fair trade organic rubber sourced from a women’s collective in South America to be on the safest possible side of such things.

8. Speaking of allergies; there is probably nothing like an orgy to work up the appetite. Please provide guests with gluten, dairy and nut-free options. This should go for snacks as well as lubricants. An alternative meat-only option should be set up on clearly marked trays on the other side of the orgy cave for any Paleo-orgiasts.

9. Most of all, orgies should be about letting go of the oppressive constraints and expectations of mainstream sexuality so that you feel free to express your highest sexual self. The most important thing is to have fun!

Freedom of expression on campus is sometimes portrayed as a right-wing cause. But U.S. President Barack Obama recently declared: “I don’t agree that you, when you become students at colleges, have to be coddled and protected from different points of view.… Anybody who comes to speak to you, and you disagree with, you should have an argument with ’em. But you shouldn’t silence them by saying, ‘You can’t come because I’m too sensitive to hear what you have to say.’ That’s not the way we learn either.”

The president offers sage advice to both American and Canadian universities, in the face of a trend to rid campuses of views and ideas that some might find “offensive,” “hurtful,” “disrespectful” or even “disingenuous.” “Trigger warnings,” “micro-aggressions” and “safe space” have entered campus parlance as ways to silence discussion and restrict events that might “trigger” someone into feeling uncomfortable or insecure.

Many universities condone mob censorship and then use “security fees” to silence the expression and debate of controversial and unpopular ideas on campus

This trend threatens the ability of universities to foster an environment that facilitates intellectual discovery and social progress, noble pursuits that generally end up offending someone’s sensibilities. Copernicus, for example, deeply offended members of the intellectual and scientific order of the day he (and others) declared that the Earth was not the centre of the universe. The pursuit of truth inevitably causes offence, often to the majority. But the discovery process makes us all better and more informed citizens in the end.

Universities are legally required to uphold the rule of law, including both the safety and the free expression rights of their students, faculty and invited guests on university property. But many universities condone mob censorship and then use “security fees” to silence the expression and debate of controversial and unpopular ideas on campus, by pricing such expression out of existence.

The fifth annual Campus Freedom Index sheds light on these issues by grading universities and student unions (using standard grade letters) on how well their policies and practices support free speech. Using specific, measurable and replicable criteria, this index provides university administrators and student union executives with clear standards they can adopt.

The 2015 findings are not good. With 220 grades awarded to 55 campuses (for university policies, university practices, student union policies and student union practices), Canada’s universities and student unions received only eight “A” grades, compared to 41 “F” grades.

The University of Alberta condoned the bullying, censorship and intimidation of the group UAlberta Pro-Life

Concordia University approved and facilitated the removal of several texts from the Reflections Library operated by the Muslim Students Association in March 2015, after media reported that some of the books in the library were written by authors who had made controversial statements in the past. The university also failed to oppose the cancellation of a lecture near campus by Canadian MP Marc Garneau, citing fear of violent protest.

The University of Alberta condoned the bullying, censorship and intimidation of the group UAlberta Pro-Life, throughout the 2014-15 school year. The U of A failed to take action against numerous violations of the Code of Student Behaviour, including the vandalism and destruction of students’ posters; incitement to inappropriate behaviour and to criminal behaviour; and the obstruction and disruption of a university-related activity, namely the student club’s peaceful, educational display on campus.

Some universities are standing up against this trend to silence discourse in the name of preventing discomfort. In September 2014, Memorial University defended free expression against pressure from some students and faculty to condemn a lecture series on post-abortion mental health services, sponsored by the Counselling Centre and the Campus Chaplaincy. In February 2015, the University of Toronto defended free expression in relation to a lecture titled “WWI 100th Anniversary: Human Suffering in Eastern Anatolia.” Amidst protest and demands to shut the event down, the university ensured there was an adequate security presence.

If universities continue to follow this trend of coddling young minds in an effort to protect students from what makes them feel uncomfortable, not only do they risk stifling intellectual and social progress, but they will leave these students ill-prepared to properly deal with the reality of discomfort in their working and adult lives.

To the students, parents and other taxpayers who pay billions of dollars to universities each year, this should be deeply offensive.

National Post

John Carpay and Michael Kennedy are co-authors of the 2015 Campus Freedom Index, released by the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (www.jccf.ca).

EDMONTON – A made-in-Edmonton pill that lets people suffering from celiac disease and gluten intolerance eat bread and other foods containing gluten could be as close as two or three years away.

Greg Southam / Edmonton Journal

Hoon Sunwoo, an associate professor in the faculty of pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences at the University of Alberta, has developed antibodies in chicken egg yolks that bind with problematic wheat proteins.

After years of research, the U of A and spinoff company IGY Incorporated have passed two major milestones.

First, U.K.-based Vetanda Group Ltd., has invested more than $2.5 million to fund more research. In a deal brokered by business incubator TEC Edmonton, Vetanda has also acquired the intellectual property and exclusive licence.

Second, a Canadian human safety trial has now been completed and the product is undergoing a clinical trial to test the product’s effectiveness in reducing symptoms of gluten intolerance.

“I have been working on the yolk antibodies for 20 years,” Sunwoo said Sunday.

Mother hens produce natural antibodies, known as immunoglobulin yolk, to help chicks fight disease. Sunwoo and Jeong Sim, a retired professor in the faculty of agriculture, studied how yolks could be tweaked to target agents harmful to humans.

Sunwoo came up with the idea of producing antibodies against gluten after learning that a friend and his family suffered from celiac disease.

Celiacs can’t tolerate gluten — a protein found in wheat, barley and rye.

Gluten prevents crumbling in bread and other baked goods, and is used in many processed foods. Celiacs must check every food label because even a small amount of it can trigger symptoms such as diarrhea, weight loss and fatigue.

“It does give a lot of hope to a lot of the population suffering from gluten intolerance and celiac disease.”

Sunwoo isolated the problematic molecular component of gluten and developed an egg-yolk antibody to target it.

Parts of the research were supported by grants from Alberta Livestock and Meat Agency, Alberta Agriculture and Forestry, and Alberta Innovation and Advanced Education.

The natural food supplement under development would be taken a few minutes before eating, Sunwoo said.

Jay Kumar, vice-president of technology management at TEC Edmonton, said the pills could be available in Canada within two or three years, paving the way for testing and product approval in the United States and Europe.

It’s estimated one to three per cent of the world’s population has some form of gluten intolerance.

“It does give a lot of hope to a lot of the population suffering from gluten intolerance and celiac disease,” Kumar said.

“It’s a great example of local U of A technology getting international interest.”

When it comes to censoring unpopular speech on campus, some universities are smarter than others.

The University of Calgary foolishly charged its own students with trespassing, and later with non-academic misconduct, for having set up a pro-life display on campus, tactics that were decisively rejected by the court in Wilson vs. University of Calgary last year. At Mount Royal University, security guards arrested a young man for distributing pro-life literature on campus, and detained him for several hours in a small room, with his hands cuffed painfully behind his back. After a court action was commenced, the university’s president apologized for the security guards’ conduct, and the court action was withdrawn.

Related

In contrast, the University of Alberta uses more clever techniques to censor unpopular speech, by extorting “security fees” from students wishing to express controversial ideas, and by failing to enforce its own Code of Student Behaviour.

Keith Morison for National PostCalgary Pro-Life student Asia Wilson, left, and her brother-in-law Cameron Wilson talk to the media on Wednesday, April 17, before heading into Court in Calgary. They were among a group of students calling for a judicial review after they were charged with non-academic misconduct by the University of Calgary for positing graphic pictures of aborted fetuses on campus.

In the fall of 2014, Go-Life was subjected to having hundreds of its posters torn down by U of A students who boasted openly on Facebook about having destroyed Go-Life’s property. The perpetrators of this vandalism have not been required to pay restitution for the damage they admitted causing. This in spite of express provisions in the Code that empower the University to require students to accept real and tangible consequences for their conduct.

In the weeks leading up to a campus pro-life display in March 2015, several U of A students used Facebook to urge the physical obstruction and disruption of Go-Life’s event. This recommended behaviour is expressly prohibited by the U of A, not to mention the Criminal Code of Canada. These Facebook threats also directly violated the U of A’s own rules against encouraging the commission of offences.

In March, the University of Alberta Protective Services (UAPS) stood by passively while dozens of U of A students, joined by non-students (including NDP MP Linda Duncan), used mob censorship to deny other students their legal right to see Go-Life’s display. UAPS did not photograph the students who physically disrupted the display, or ask to see their identification (which students are legally required to produce to university officials when asked), or inform them that their conduct was in violation of the Code. UAPS wilfully deprived itself of the information it would need to commence disciplinary proceedings against Code-violators.

Campus security can act decisively when it wants to. At Carleton University, campus security arrested and handcuffed students who tried to set up a pro-life display on campus, and frogmarched them into the waiting paddy wagon. At the University of Calgary, campus security photographed pro-life students, demanded to see their identification, and used that information to charge the students with trespassing and with non-academic misconduct. Campus security would, appropriately, not allow a mob of young conservatives to disrupt a campus NDP event, or white supremacists to shut down an aboriginal ceremony, or religious fundamentalists to disrupt a campus gay pride parade. But when it comes to pro-choicers physically preventing people from seeing their opponents’ expression, campus security guards suddenly turn into spineless weaklings. Upholding the rule of law on campus depends — mysteriously — on the identity of the group that needs protection from the mob.

Dean Bicknell / Postmedia News filesLawyer John Carpay stands in front of some of the students he represented after they were charged with trespassing following an anti-abortion demonstration on the University of Calgary campus.

After the physical obstruction of Go-Life’s display in March, the club booked a classroom for a pro-life speaker. Two weeks prior to this event, the U of A informed Go-Life that the room was available for use. However, the U of A denied formal approval until minutes prior to the event’s start, thereby preventing Go-Life from advertising. This rendered the event almost meaningless.

Adding insult to injury, the U of A then presented Go-Life with an invoice for hundreds of dollars because a UAPS security guard was present at the event — a service which the students had not requested. The perverse thinking that underlies the invoice — that law-abiding students must pay hundreds of dollars for the potential misconduct of law-breaking students — is completely contrary to the rule of law.

U of A president Indira Samarasekera is more clever than the University of Calgary in achieving the same result: a campus which does not provide a safe space for the free expression and debate of ideas.

National Post

Calgary lawyer John Carpay is president of the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (Jccf.ca), and acts for the Go-Life students at the University of Alberta.

1. Just to clarify what I meant by “um, gee, I don’t know”

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck/FilesI am unequivocally opposed to whatever it was I said yesterday

Justin Trudeau clarifies his position on coalition possibilities, saying he is absolutely “unequivocally” opposed to a Liberal-NDP government, whether it’s with Mulcair or not-Mulcair, or even someone who looks like Mulcair but isn’t Mulcair. This came up because on Tuesday he sort of said he wasn’t sure about the whole thing, but that he might be amenable to a deal with the NDP, but only if the leader was someone other than Mulcair. But someone must have explained to him that a general sense of vagueness wasn’t a good position, so on Wednesday he “clarified” by noting that “What I said during that interview, what I’ve said for the past three years, is that I’m unequivocally opposed to any sort of coalition.” OK, so got that? Opposed. Right.

2. Bash another one, Jim

Crystal Schick / Postmedia NewsThe two faces of Jim Prentice: one taxes, the other cuts

Alberta Premier Jim Prentice got criticized for having too many new taxes and most enough cuts in his budge, so that now his Tories are even trailing the NDP, for cripe sakes. So we know what to do about that eh? On the campaign trail Wednesday he promised to freeze public sector salaries and hiring until the government tables a balanced budget (or regains its popularity, whichever comes first), and to cut a quarter of Alberta’s 320 provincial agencies, boards and commissions. Now you’re talking! Unfortunately he’s still stuck with increases already negotiated, but every time he’s asked about them he’s going to frown disapprovingly. Radical, Jim. Radical.

3. I shouldda been a researcher

Moose KnucklesDon't ask me, I don't know what it means either

University of Alberta researchers think they’ve solve an age-old riddle: why do knuckles make that gross sound whenever they’re “cracked,” i.e. the noise that makes everyone around the cracker want to lose their lunch? It’s not air bubbles, as previously believed, it’s gas rapidly filling the space between bones when stress is applied to the joint. Fine, great, but it’s still gross. Shouldn’t these researchers be doing something more useful, like hunting down gender inequities and finding new ways to foist “inclusivity” on people who just want to study? I thought that was what campuses were for.

4. Another reason you don’t want to move to Kyiv

AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka

A former ally of ousted Ukraine president Viktor Yanukovych, was found shot to death in his home. This is the sixth former Yanukovych official to die in the past two months, in circumstances cops say are most likely suicide. “Most likely”? Six in two months? If this was on CSI Kyiv, there would be some definite suspicions raised.

PS: a TV journalist and critic of the Poroshenko government was also shot to death. But no one thinks he did it himself.

5. Why would anyone invade Greece to begin with?

AP Photo/Thanassis StavrakisWho would want to invade a nice place like this?

Greece is seriously believed to be on the brink of default over its inability to make payments on its rescue package from the European community. But it has somehow scraped together the cash to buy Russian missiles for its air defense system. Or maybe it’s getting them on credit, because Greek credit is so reliable. Nuther question: If Greece is part of the EU, and is buying missiles from Russia, who precisely is it defending itself from? The Turks? I thought they were in NATO, kinda like Greece.

6. No wonder fares are going up

Matthew Sherwood for National Post)Just ask the guy in the tie to drive

What??? The Toronto Sun — oh, we love the Toronto Sun, mmmm, smoochy smooch, our best new buddies — reports that the TTC spends $95,000 a week on “a temporarily large surplus of operators” — i.e. too many bus drivers. It pays 85 a day not to drive buses, says the Sun. They go on the “spare board,” i.e. theoretically available if needed, which they’re not. Didn’t Olivia Chow run on a pledge to hire more drivers? What were they going to do, entertain the other excess drivers with card tricks?

7. Stupid commuters. Who let them in anyway?

Waterfront Toronto

Just in case you were unclear on where the Toronto Star comes down on the issue of razing the east end of the Gardiner , here’s the lead paragraph on their latest “news” story:

“Should Torontonians spend $458 million to save a relatively small number of commuters between two and three minutes on their commute times?”

Gee, that’s fair and objective. We understand it was toned down a bit from the original:
“Should hard-pressed downtown residents be stuck subsidizing a bunch of stinking commuters because they’re too lazy to walk or too poor to buy a condo on the water like the rest of us?”

Good job, editors.

These just in

– We really needed to know this

Archeologists find 250-year-old leather dildo in site of ancient toilet in Poland. (And a pretty impressive one too, judging by the photo)

– Crimea anyone?

Russia says Canada’s decision to help train Ukraine soldiers is “deplorable.” Presumably we should have just sent in unmarked troops and seized the place, like they do in Moscow.

Related

“A naked woman standing on the corner may get arrested for public nudity, but she is not fair game for physical assault.”

She also commented on the use of the niqab, a veil that covers women’s hair and faces, at citizenship ceremonies.

“In an open society, people are seen,” Campbell said.

She said one of Canada’s challenges is to guide the integration of cultures that don’t share this value. Better education of Canadian residents is the key, she said, adding if Canadians don’t understand their own history and values, people new to the country will find them difficult to learn.

Canada needs to address its changing values in the run-up to the country’s 150th anniversary, the audience was told as part of a panel discussion that included former Liberal foreign affairs minister Lloyd Axworthy and that was held by the Peter Lougheed Leadership College. Panellists talked about determining what Canadian values are and how to transform them for a globalized world.

Axworthy lauded Canada’s 150th anniversary as a chance to create a “new narrative” in Canada. He said Canadian values have to change because of the creation of the “security state” after 9/11, the expansion of the digital world, and shifting demographics.

“Our North American piece of rock no longer is immune to anything — disease, disaster, terrorism,” he said.

Axworthy also talked about the indignities committed against Canada’s aboriginal population as an impediment to the Canadian value of inclusion. He said that Canada can’t represent itself as a “civil society” to the world until those wrongs are redressed.

This sentiment is rapidly becoming the normal practice at Canada’s public universities, which accept mob rule as a way to censor controversial ideas on campus. Christie Blatchford was invited to speak at the University of Waterloo about her book Helpless: Caledonia’s Nightmare of Fear and Anarchy, but loud, unruly “protesters” forced the cancellation of this event in 2010. U-Waterloo’s president, Dr. Hamdullahpur, learned nothing from this incident, allowing MP Stephen Woodworth to be shouted down by “protesters” in 2013, while campus security watched passively.

In April 2014, the University of Ottawa condoned the forcible shut down of a presentation by Dr. Janice Fiamengo, by “activists” who disagreed with her opinions against radical feminism. This was consistent, of course, with Ottawa-U previously allowing a mob to prevent a scheduled speaking event with controversial author Ann Coulter from taking place.

Men’s Issues Awareness events at the University of Toronto and elsewhere have been blocked, disrupted and effectively shut down. Alternatively, the university administration censors these events by permitting them to proceed only if the campus club pays hundreds of dollars in “security fees” to cover the real or potential risk posed by obstructionists who disagree with the club’s viewpoint. Last week’s physical blocking of a pro-life display at the University of Alberta, with disruptive protesters hiding it from view entirely, is the latest example of mob censorship that is condoned by university presidents.

Related

Disruptive protesters, who silence their opponents by making it impossible for the public to hear or see a controversial message, claim that they are merely using their own free expression rights. But even a Kindergarten student can tell the difference between making her own painting, and placing a sheet of paper on top of the painting of the girl sitting beside her. University students who cannot grasp this simple distinction have likely been educated beyond their intelligence. Put simply, preventing someone else from communicating her opinion is not the same as expressing your own.

Those who obstruct and disrupt their opponents’ events claim that the opinion which they have silenced is so obviously wrong that it doesn’t deserve a hearing. But who should get to determine which opinions are sufficiently odious to warrant being censored by a small mob of “protesters” or “activists”? Should people, if they feel “very” hurt and offended, be allowed to silence the peaceful expression of messages they disagree with?

Not all university presidents agree that free expression includes the right to block, obstruct and disrupt others’ messages and events. In 2011, then-president of the University of British Columbia, Stephen Toope, directed campus security to uphold the free speech rights of a student pro-life group in the face of threats on Facebook to block the students’ display. Campus security informed the would-be blockers that they had every right to engage in their own peaceful counter-protest, but warned against censoring the pro-life display by obstructing it from view. Campus security protected freedom of expression from mob rule, upholding the rule of law in the best interest of everyone at UBC.

Unfortunately, University of Alberta president Indira Samarasekera has taken the opposite approach. On March 3 and 4, U of A campus security condoned the physical obstruction of a pro-life display on campus, which was set up by a registered student club with the University’s permission. The Code of Student Behaviour expressly prohibits the obstruction and disruption of university-related functions, activities and events, but campus security took no action against those who broke the rules. If the campus security guards were unwilling or unable to control these “activists,” they could at least have demanded to see their student ID, and commenced disciplinary proceedings against them.

Dr. Samarasekera and other university presidents are buying an artificial and very short-term “peace” by condoning the mob censorship, by physical means, of politically incorrect views on campus. In so doing, they send the message to all students that it’s OK to physically shut down opinions and events one disagrees with. These university presidents undermine the free exchange and debate of ideas on campus by inviting more and more little mobs to consider: “Why debate your opponent when you can simply silence her?”

National Post

Calgary lawyer John Carpay is president of the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (Jccf.ca) and acts for the pro-life students at the University of Alberta in defence of their free expression right.

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/john-carpay-universities-are-buying-peace-by-condoning-mob-censorship/feed2stdpost_secondary0137fbU of A student leaves the country to visit family — school throws out $3,500 worth of her stuffhttp://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/u-of-a-student-leaves-the-country-to-visit-family-school-throws-out-3500-worth-of-her-stuff
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/u-of-a-student-leaves-the-country-to-visit-family-school-throws-out-3500-worth-of-her-stuff#commentsFri, 21 Nov 2014 15:13:55 +0000http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=546228

EDMONTON – The University of Alberta Students’ Union is calling for new regulations to protect students living on campus, after an international student had thousands of dollars worth of her belongings thrown out.

Fourth-year design student Siying Chen, 22, arrived back from her annual summer visit with family in China to find most of her possessions gone from the HUB Mall apartment she has rented for the past three years.

Missing was her 51-inch television, a sewing machine, a Toshiba laptop, snowboards and snowboarding equipment, art supplies for her classes, paintings and drawings from four years of coursework, handmade furniture such as a side table, stool and floor lamp.

Due to your lack of responsibility these items were considered as trash [left] behind and therefore were all thrown out and removed as garbage as well while the unit was getting cleaned

Chen emailed residence services on Sept. 5 and received a response saying she was required under her lease agreement to notify Residence Services if she planned to leave her unit for more than 14 days.

“We had no idea if you left and moved out, leaving items behind which so many, many students do, leaving the university to pay for removal of items,” the email said.

Some of the items were left in the common area of the four-unit apartment Chen shares with roommates.

“We felt that if the items in the common area were important to someone, then they would have put them in their bedroom for safekeeping while they were away,” the email said. “Therefore, due to your lack of responsibility these items were considered as trash [left] behind and therefore were all thrown out and removed as garbage as well while the unit was getting cleaned.”

Chen said she left items such as her television in the common room to share with her roommates.

She had prepaid her rent for the summer and was enrolled for classes this year, and doesn’t understand why the items were thrown out when she has gone home for summer break every year with no problem.

Chen has replaced some of the items since she needs them for school. However, she hasn’t been reimbursed for any of the belongings that were removed.

We are committed to constantly improving those policies and procedures and we are committed to enhancing students’ experience while here. Situations like this help us identify where and how we can make those improvements

“I’m very, very helpless,” she said. “It’s the record of my university life … Emotionally, it’s like someone used an eraser, has erased something very important of your life.”

A spokesperson for the U of A’s Residence Services wasn’t immediately available Thursday, but Doug Dawson, associate vice-president for ancillary services, said the university’s policies and procedures governing how students’ belongings are handled when they move out were followed in Chen’s case.

“We are committed to constantly improving those policies and procedures and we are committed to enhancing students’ experience while here. Situations like this help us identify where and how we can make those improvements.”

Chen contacted the U of A Students’ Union in early October, but it is difficult to help students in these situations because the residences are basically unregulated, said students’ union vice-president Nicholas Diaz, who handles complaints about student housing.

“Residence Services (at the U of A) makes the rules and enforces the rules, and there’s no dispute-resolution mechanism, either,” Diaz said.

“The Residential Tenancies Act does not apply to them, so there’s no law governing their procedures around cleaning, inspections and so forth … Reimbursement for Siying would have to come from the university wanting to do that.”

Over the past six months, Diaz said he has received hundreds of complaints from students about their on-campus housing.

“This case is one student who lost $3,500 worth of property that they will never see again,” he said. “This is just one student. This is happening to hundreds of students and not all of them speak up.”

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/u-of-a-student-leaves-the-country-to-visit-family-school-throws-out-3500-worth-of-her-stuff/feed2stdSiying Chen with a lamp that she designed and recovered after university residence cleaners threw it out along with thousands of dollars worth of her other belongings.Canadian professors pull clever stunt to expose the outrageous pay of university administratorshttp://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadian-professors-pull-clever-stunt-to-expose-the-outrageous-pay-of-university-administrators
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadian-professors-pull-clever-stunt-to-expose-the-outrageous-pay-of-university-administrators#respondTue, 17 Jun 2014 17:22:05 +0000http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=480787

The current president and vice-chancellor of the University of Alberta, Indira Samarasekera, is leaving next summer. This means that her job, which pays at least $400,000, is up for grabs. I’m sure the search committee expected a lot of top talent in the application pool—but they probably didn’t expect 56 Canadian academics, fed up with a highly paid administration in the face of country-wide “austerity” measures, applying for Samarasekera’s job in groups of four.

The elaborate and serious joke—an HR performance piece, if you will, that would also happen to have spectacular results if it actually worked—is the brainchild of Dalhousie University professor Kathleen Cawsey and three friends, a Gang of Four whose pointed (and hilarious) cover letter has become a Canadian media cause célèbre.

The stunt comes on the heels of recent revelations that some of the United States’ highest-paid college presidents also oversaw some of the biggest increases in student debt (and, in some cases, increased hiring of low-paid adjunct faculty). Most notoriously, E. Gordon Gee received a nearly $6 million retirement package when he “retired” in disgrace from Ohio State University. (Don’t feel too bad for him, though.) If Gee had selflessly capped his buyout at, say, a meager $1 million, the university could have offered $10,000 scholarships to 500 additional students (or hired 100 new faculty at $50,000 each, give or take). Hot on Gee’s heels is James Milliken, chancellor of the CUNY system, who can now draft emails about that pesky adjunct rebellion in supreme comfort from his free $18,000-a-month apartment.

Cawsey and her colleagues decided they’d skewer the University of Alberta’s comparatively modest participation in the top-heavy university economy, and have a few laughs while they were at it.

“As you will see from our CVs,” the group writes, “we are eminently suited to fill this position. Indeed, we believe that by job-sharing this position, we would be able to do a better job than any one person could do—and the salary is certainly ample enough to meet the needs of all four of us. Indeed,” they continue, “for many of us one-fourth of your proposed minimum salary would double or triple our current wage.” They are quick to point out the advantages of a four-for-one deal, quipping: “We will even share one academic gown.”

Academics all over North America complain about the corporatization of the university and “administrative bloat,” but Cawsey and co. are actually brave enough to put their names on a collective action that is equal parts brazen and good-hearted. The purpose of the collective app, Cawsey explains to me, was to highlight “the disparity between the recent growth of university administration—both in terms of numbers of administrators and in terms of their salaries—and their rhetoric of austerity, which has resulted in program cuts, loss of tenure-track jobs, increasing numbers of poorly-paid, insecure sessionals [adjuncts], and skyrocketing tuition. And,” she adds, “because it was a lot of fun.”

It was enough fun, in fact, that 52 of Cawsey’s closest friends decided to join in, and thus turn the wholly farcical administrative-versus-faculty pay disparity into the actual farce it is. (Although whoever the university hires to replace Samarasekera will also get to brag that they do the job of four people, which is kind of obnoxious.) But what if the “fun” turns serious and Cawsey and gang actually get what they wish for? She says she won’t come on without a very specific and highly unorthodox bonus package:

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadian-professors-pull-clever-stunt-to-expose-the-outrageous-pay-of-university-administrators/feed0stdThe current president and vice-chancellor of the University of Alberta, Indira Samarasekera, is leaving next summer.Dalhousie Jonathan Kay: Want to 'empower' your kid? Make her memorize the multiplication tablehttp://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/jonathan-kay-want-to-empower-your-kid-teach-them-the-multiplication-table
http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/jonathan-kay-want-to-empower-your-kid-teach-them-the-multiplication-table#respondTue, 25 Mar 2014 16:26:30 +0000http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/?p=148821

“Besides adding and subtracting, men name other operations, as ‘multiplying’ and ‘dividing,’ yet they are the same; for multiplication is but adding together of things equal; and division but subtracting.”— Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan.

During grades one, two and three, your 10 fingers and a scratch pad are pretty much all you need to get by in math class. Then comes multiplication, and things change: There is simply no way that a typical student can solve these problems quickly without memorizing the basic grade-school matrix we call the multiplication table. Aside from a number line, this square matrix is arguably the most important single pedagogic tool that an elementary student will ever master. And any style of teaching math that does not require its memorization is one that should be rejected out of hand.

Until one masters the multiplication table, basic math is slow and frustrating. Then you memorize that magic box and the skies open up. Suddenly, you have the tools to calculate area and volume, speed/time/distance problems, unit conversion, and currency — not to mention division, exponents, algebra and all the rest.

Knowing the multiplication table makes math fun — or at least less non-fun. My whole elementary school experience was one long series of crappy report cards and punishments. But even through that haze of shame, I remember the thrill of knowing my table. There’s a direct line from that thrill to my schooling in engineering and my writing on technical subjects as a journalist and book author. Thank you, magic box.

What’s not a thrill is teaching the multiplication table to today’s students, who seem to be just as lazy and easily distractible as I was. My own daughter, who is in Grade 4, is a case in point: This is the first time in her scholastic life that anyone has asked her to do anything requiring any sort of sustained intellectual effort. She didn’t exactly leap to the challenge.

At first, she fell back on the Hobbesian method of simply counting out the answer to every multiplication question, using addition. But I have (gradually) convinced her that this is short-sighted — on the utilitarian logic that she will recoup the time and effort she invests in memorizing the multiplication table (many, many times over), thanks to the ease and quickness with which she will be able to solve the thousands upon thousands of math problems we all face during our lifetimes.

That’s another great thing about learning the multiplication table: It teaches children the principle of investment, reward and delayed gratification — the same principle they will have to apply, writ large, if they commit to slogging through many years of higher education en route to a high-paying job.

There are some children who learn the multiplication tables on their own. Young boys, especially, become obsessed early in life with gaming apps and combat-themed card games that demand somewhat sophisticated math skills. (If you’re playing some Minecraft-style game, and you need to build an anti-troll wall that’s four blocks wide and six blocks high, and each block costs you three stone and two wood … well, you get the picture.)

For the rest of my daughter’s Grade 4 class, which is still ticking off “7, 14, 21, 28 …” in their respective minds, watching these autodidacts firing off math answers can be intimidating. In fact, this was around the time my own daughter started coming home from school telling me that math was a “boy” thing. She kept saying that until she (mostly) learned her multiplication table. Now, she doesn’t say it. In fact, she seems to actually like math. Sometimes.

I realize that the multiplication table is old school. But old school is making a comeback — at least in some parts of this country. A while back, Alberta switched to a “discovery” model for teaching math, whereby children were permitted to use “creative” methods to pursue correct (or correct-ish) answers to math problems. In an open letter to Alberta Education Minister, University of Alberta education specialist Ken Porteous blasted the program as follows: “The discovery approach has no place in arithmetic at the junior elementary level. There is nothing to discover. [It] just leads to confusion which ultimately translates into frustration, a strong dislike for mathematics and a desire to drop out of any form of mathematics course at the earliest opportunity.”

Apparently, someone was listening. According to a report in today’s Globe & Mail, “The Alberta government has bent to pressure from parents for curriculum changes and will require students to memorize their multiplication tables starting this fall, dealing a setback to the creative-math movement.”

“I’ve heard loud and clear from parents that they want more reassurance that students will be expected to recall basic math facts from memory,” the Education Minister told the newspaper. “We believe that we can successfully weave the memorization of fundamentals in with the development of other critical competencies such as problem solving, application and collaboration.”

This is fantastic news — especially for those of us whose children aren’t naturally drawn to math. You want to “empower” a kid? Teach her what happens when you multiply 8 times 7.

It’s incredibly rare to find a complete skeleton of a baby dinosaur, but that’s just what a team of researchers at the University of Alberta and The Royal Tyrrell Museum did when they found the juvenile fossil of a Chasmosaurus belli, a dinosaur similar to a Triceratops. The find is the smallest ever for dinosaurs of this type.

The team made the find in Dinosaur Provincial Park in southern Alberta.

“The big ones just preserve better: They don’t get eaten, they don’t get destroyed by animals,” Dr. Philip Currie, a paleobiologist at the University of Alberta and research associate at the Tyrrell Museum told Live Science. “You always hope you’re going to find something small and that it will turn out to be a dinosaur.”

The skeleton was so well preserved, it seems, because the animal was sucked into a sink hole and trapped just as it died. The team estimates the dino was about three years old when it perished and about a metre and a half long. Ceratopsids such as the Chasmosaurus and the Triceratops reach full size after about 20 years when just the animal’s skull would have been about two metres long.

Daderot/Public DomainA full sized Chasmosaurus belli exhibited in the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia.

Clive Coy/'Dino Lab',University of AlbertaA closeup of skin impression from the baby dinosaur.

The corpse did not have bite marks or other obvious causes for death, so the scientists presume that it died from drowning.

“I think it may have just gotten trapped out of its league in terms of water current,” Currie told LiveScience.

The fossil was found when Currie noticed something sticking out of the side of the hill which turned out to be the frill of the Chasmosaur.

Adult Chasmosaurus finds are relatively common Dinosaur Provincial Park, which is about two and a half hours southeast of Calgary and one of the most active fossil sites in the world. The park, where more than 40 dinosaur species have been found, was named a World Heritage site in 1979. In 1985, the Royal Tyrrell Museum opened near the park, which offered a place to display and study the finds from the area.

Currie — a preeminent palaeontologist and one of the inspirations for Jurassic Park‘s Alan Grant — was one of the people to push for the creation of the Tyrell museum and is supporting the creation of the Philip J. Currie museum in Northern Alberta to serve as a similar resource to the Tyrell in the south.

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntoshDrumheller, Alta., on Sunday, June 23, 2013. Drumheller, the location of the Tyrell dinosaur museum, was hit by this summers Alberta flooding.